Re-tooling For One More Run With This Core

[Drytoast]

Doesn't matter who we play we lose

Every year is different

 

[ShaneFalco]

Every year is different

6 years in a row same result
It's nice you're still optimistic - many aren't and want change. That doesn't mean blowing it up.

 

[Drytoast]

6 years in a row same result
It's nice you're still optimistic - many aren't and want change. That doesn't mean blowing it up.

We have improved every year. You know Mario was drafted in 84 and didnt win the cup til 91...

Almost everyone goes through adversity before they figure it out.

 

[rocketman588]

I sure wish we were playing the LA Kings...and not the two time stanley cup champs who are now favored to hit the finals...

They did this last night against the flames who going in and who are still everyone's second best team in the west behind the avs.

They had a goaltender interference and basically a ref shitting himself and blowing an I can't see the puck whistle as it was going over the line.

I'm sure many teams last year would have loved to have the Habs and jackets in the first round

 

[Dragao6]

Sign Forsberg, domi
If possible keep engval, mikhaev and blackwell
Trade kerfoot and Simmons can go
Spezza as 13th man

Defence
Sign gio cheap
Trade Muzzin and holl
Maybe look at subban on the cheap

Trade nylander in deal for chychrun and crouse

Nets
Holtby, if defence/team is strong in front of him we don’t need a superstar goalie
Or look at Blackwood or Samsonov

Obviously get rid of mrazek

My 2 cents
We get younger, get more assets and skilled/physical

 

[Not My Tempo]

I don’t know what the solution is, but it seems like secondary scoring always underperforms in the playoffs for us. Hyman this year has 5 goals in 9 playoff games, he had 5 in 32 games with us… Mikheyev has 1 5v5 point in 3 playoffs with us, a secondary assist.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Sign Forsberg, domi
If possible keep engval, mikhaev and blackwell
Trade kerfoot and Simmons can go
Spezza as 13th man

Defence
Sign gio cheap
Trade Muzzin and holl
Maybe look at subban on the cheap

Trade nylander in deal for chychrun and crouse

Nets
Holtby, if defence/team is strong in front of him we don’t need a superstar goalie
Or look at Blackwood or Samsonov

Obviously get rid of mrazek

My 2 cents
We get younger, get more assets and skilled/physical

Not sure Nylander nets us Chychrun and Crouse. It would be nice if it did though.

 

[Mess]

Interesting that the highest scoring team since the mid nineties, The Florida Panthers, are being neutralized in the playoffs. Their PP is oh for 20+ and Barkov and Huberdeau have been MEH in their 8 games.

Tampa without Point is up 2-0 on the #1 team in the East winning two away games in an arena where Panthers seldom lose. Team is made up of winners and an elite coach. They want to win B2B2B and go down in history as one of the best teams. Meanwhile we just want to win a round.

That is not difficult to answer..

Toronto and Florida were the 2 highest scoring regular season teams in Goals For however "Defense win Championships" and "Good teams are built from the Goalie out, through strong defense..." The key factor however also was the Florida (#7) and the Leafs (8th) in Goals Against in the Eastern conference.

Your teams #1 defensive component is your goalie, who is the last line of defense. Vasilevskiy going back to game #7 last round and including the last 2 against Florida Vas surrender but a single goal per game while posting .968 , .971 & .972 sv% in his last 3 games... All TB has to do is score 2 goals to win and you don't need a high scoring team for that.

Breaking it down further to game play and systems its easier to defend a goal against then it is to score one in a game. So a good playoff team strategy is to clog up the neutral zone breaking up rush attacks which high scoring teams like Toronto and Florida live off of, and box out the opposition in their own zone with a tight 5 man box protecting the high danger scoring area, keeping the opposition on the perimeter and giving their goalie easier opportunities to stop shots.

Then Tampa Bay team has a true team identity, and they build lines where each trio knows their roles and responsibilities and executes it to perfection, from the 1st with their stars right down to their 4th with Perry and Maroon. When they lose players 3rd line energy/checking players like Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman off their Cup team for cap reason, they know exactly the types of checkers and energy players as in Nick Paul and Brendon Hagel to replace them with,. They play a game with confidence knowing they have the Conn Smythe playoff MVP in and perhaps the best goalie in the world as their last line of defense to bail them out of their mistakes.

This is the model of team build the Leafs should follow, starting with getting themselves a world class #1 goalie, assembling a strong Dcore, and build from the net out, and not high scoring & high priced forwards in, which is backwards and you can see by Leafs lack of playoff success also proven faulty.

Tampa Bay checks all the boxes from a world class goalie to a Norris and Conn Smythe Dman to star forwards and strategic depth players designed for precise roles and responsibilities.

 

[Drytoast]

They did this last night against the flames who going in and who are still everyone's second best team in the west behind the avs.

They had a goaltender interference and basically a ref shitting himself and blowing an I can't see the puck whistle as it was going over the line.

I'm sure many teams last year would have loved to have the Habs and jackets in the first round

We did it game 5? /shrug

 

[Dragao6]

Not sure Nylander nets us Chychrun and Crouse. It would be nice if it did though.

U would obviously add
1st or whatever but I got to believe this is the year all management jobs are on the line?!

 

[rocketman588]

We did it game 5? /shrug

They did it in the second round

Which your boy has never reached.

Don't we have a rule against alters dekes?

 

[Nineteen67]

Starting today, how many seasons before the Leafs can realistically peer into a championship window?

 

[ACC1224]

It's sarcasm to counter one trying to compare the Oilers success to ours this year. Please try and keep up. I know it's high level but I didn't think it was that high level.

Wishing is high level?
If diminishing a teams success as a way to cope with the Leafs failure helps you get through the night, knock yourself out.

 

[PromisedLand]

Starting today, how many seasons before the Leafs can realistically peer into a championship window?

As long as boy wonder is at the helm and Shanny spewing BS and the coach still "learning" on the job this team doesn't have a window.

#1G, #1D, depth pieces -> Nowhere to be found.

- Core doesn't show up for important games and cannot be helped by "quality" depth pieces because there is no cap left. Oh but we are getting some ELCs... Um no we are not Dubas made sure we traded our picks/young assets too.

On top of that three 11 AAV players (matthews and marner not even 8 year term); what window are you even looking at? I just see walls all over the place; oxygen getting sucked out of the room and can't even breathe.

It is absolutely FRUSTRATING as a Leafs fan because there was an opportunity to build something special and do something special and this JOKE of a GM has ruined it all. Everything is down the gutter!

 

[GoBuds14]

This is probably the most difficult roster situation in the entire league. Matthews, Marner, Nylander all had career years, and all had a good playoff (I wouldn’t say great, but good). Based on that, logic would dictate that nothing drastic needs to happen. Yet this is 5 straight years of losing in a winner take all game in the playoffs, I feel as though they need to take a page out of the Raptors book when Derozen got shipped out, not saying there’s a Kawhi out there, but a major shake up nonetheless.

 

[Stephen]

We have improved every year. You know Mario was drafted in 84 and didnt win the cup til 91...

Almost everyone goes through adversity before they figure it out.

I subscribe to this line of thinking too, but if Auston Matthews is Mario Lemieux, it's ready 1990. It's later than you think.

 

[Stephen]

This is probably the most difficult roster situation in the entire league. Matthews, Marner, Nylander all had career years, and all had a good playoff (I wouldn’t say great, but good). Based on that, logic would dictate that nothing drastic needs to happen. Yet this is 5 straight years of losing in a winner take all game in the playoffs, I feel as though they need to take a page out of the Raptors book when Derozen got shipped out, not saying there’s a Kawhi out there, but a major shake up nonetheless.

Issue is the Leafs have limited "after burners" to take this current roster into the next level, while simultaneously looking at a bunch of favorable contracts running out.

So unless Dubas somehow manages to clear cap, make a bunch of long bets that all pay off and restock the cupboard and have bluechip ELC's come save the day all in one summer, the team is going to tread water.

The good news is you don't need to be a 115 point team to go deep in the playoffs or to out skill everyone to win. The bad news is I'm not sure this young management group is especially good at identifying the right playoff veteran type personalities.

 

[Hockey 4 Life]

I think the Ducks GM would be fired if he made that trade. Robertson hasn’t proven anything at the NHL level yet, Kerfoot is overpaid, and Mrazek can’t stay healthy.

Well thats your opinion, Gibson carries a huge risk of not bouncing back with a 6.4 mill cap hit for 5 more years. Comtois also has to bounce back in this scenario. Mrazek is a dump, kerfoot can be sold for a 2nd at the deadline and then Anaheim gets a 1st Robertson and a 2nd as well.

 

[Gallagbi]

That is not difficult to answer..

Toronto and Florida were the 2 highest scoring regular season teams in Goals For however "Defense win Championships" and "Good teams are built from the Goalie out, through strong defense..." The key factor however also was the Florida (#7) and the Leafs (8th) in Goals Against in the Eastern conference.

Your teams #1 defensive component is your goalie, who is the last line of defense. Vasilevskiy going back to game #7 last round and including the last 2 against Florida Vas surrender but a single goal per game while posting .968 , .971 & .972 sv% in his last 3 games... All TB has to do is score 2 goals to win and you don't need a high scoring team for that.

Breaking it down further to game play and systems its easier to defend a goal against then it is to score one in a game. So a good playoff team strategy is to clog up the neutral zone breaking up rush attacks which high scoring teams like Toronto and Florida live off of, and box out the opposition in their own zone with a tight 5 man box protecting the high danger scoring area, keeping the opposition on the perimeter and giving their goalie easier opportunities to stop shots.

Then Tampa Bay team has a true team identity, and they build lines where each trio knows their roles and responsibilities and executes it to perfection, from the 1st with their stars right down to their 4th with Perry and Maroon. When they lose players 3rd line energy/checking players like Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman off their Cup team for cap reason, they know exactly the types of checkers and energy players as in Nick Paul and Brendon Hagel to replace them with,. They play a game with confidence knowing they have the Conn Smythe playoff MVP in and perhaps the best goalie in the world as their last line of defense to bail them out of their mistakes.

This is the model of team build the Leafs should follow, starting with getting themselves a world class #1 goalie, assembling a strong Dcore, and build from the net out, and not high scoring & high priced forwards in, which is backwards and you can see by Leafs lack of playoff success also proven faulty.

Tampa Bay checks all the boxes from a world class goalie to a Norris and Conn Smythe Dman to star forwards and strategic depth players designed for precise roles and responsibilities.

Pretty sure we allowed less goals than Tampa in our series. I wouldn't say their lines were any more defined than ours either.

 

[Nylander88]

Trade:
Kerfoot
Holl
Mrazek
(Saves 9.3 mil)

Let Walk:
Mikheyev
Engvall
Kase
Blackwell
(Saves 4.875 mil)

Additional savings:
Kessel & Cap increase
(Extra 2.2 mil)

Re-sign:
Giordano (2mil x 2yrs)
Lyubushkin (1.5mil x 3yrs)
Sandin & Liljegren (1.2mil x 2yrs)
Campbell (4mil x 5yrs)
Spezza & Clifford @ league minimum
Sign in UFA:
Kadri (6mil x 3yrs)
Marchment (2.5mil x 4yrs)
(Bring back the hometown boys with grit in their game. Naz never wanted to leave. Handshake agreement on having him retire a Leaf with a cheaper next contract in his mid 30s)

Bunting-Matthews-Marner
Tavares-Kadri-Nylander
Marchment-Kampf-Robertson
Clifford-Blandisi-Simmonds/Spezza

Rielly-Lyubushkin
Muzzin-Brodie
Giordano-Liljegren
*Sandin rotates in with Lilly and Lyubushkin...Muzzin bound to be injured at some point as well*

Campbell
Kallgren

 

[ToneDog]

Trade:
Kerfoot
Holl
Mrazek
(Saves 9.3 mil)

Let Walk:
Mikheyev
Engvall
Kase
Blackwell
(Saves 4.875 mil)

Additional savings:
Kessel & Cap increase
(Extra 2.2 mil)

Re-sign:
Giordano (2mil x 2yrs)
Lyubushkin (1.5mil x 3yrs)
Sandin & Liljegren (1.2mil x 2yrs)
Campbell (4mil x 5yrs)
Spezza & Clifford @ league minimum
Sign in UFA:
Kadri (6mil x 3yrs)
Marchment (2.5mil x 4yrs)
(Bring back the hometown boys with grit in their game. Naz never wanted to leave. Handshake agreement on having him retire a Leaf with a cheaper next contract in his mid 30s)

Bunting-Matthews-Marner
Tavares-Kadri-Nylander
Marchment-Kampf-Robertson
Clifford-Blandisi-Simmonds/Spezza

Rielly-Lyubushkin
Muzzin-Brodie
Giordano-Liljegren
*Sandin rotates in with Lilly and Lyubushkin...Muzzin bound to be injured at some point as well*

Campbell
Kallgren

How much are you paying Soup ?? Somebody is going to give him close to $5m.

I'd be very afraid to go with Kallgren as my backup if I had aspirations of winning a Cup. Got to do better IMO. Comrie ??

 

[Drytoast]

I subscribe to this line of thinking too, but if Auston Matthews is Mario Lemieux, it's ready 1990. It's later than you think.

Google how long it took Ovechkin to win it

 

[CabanaBoy5]

Trade:
Kerfoot
Holl
Mrazek
(Saves 9.3 mil)

Let Walk:
Mikheyev
Engvall
Kase
Blackwell
(Saves 4.875 mil)

Additional savings:
Kessel & Cap increase
(Extra 2.2 mil)

Re-sign:
Giordano (2mil x 2yrs)
Lyubushkin (1.5mil x 3yrs)
Sandin & Liljegren (1.2mil x 2yrs)
Campbell (4mil x 5yrs)
Spezza & Clifford @ league minimum
Sign in UFA:
Kadri (6mil x 3yrs)
Marchment (2.5mil x 4yrs)
(Bring back the hometown boys with grit in their game. Naz never wanted to leave. Handshake agreement on having him retire a Leaf with a cheaper next contract in his mid 30s)

Bunting-Matthews-Marner
Tavares-Kadri-Nylander
Marchment-Kampf-Robertson
Clifford-Blandisi-Simmonds/Spezza

Rielly-Lyubushkin
Muzzin-Brodie
Giordano-Liljegren
*Sandin rotates in with Lilly and Lyubushkin...Muzzin bound to be injured at some point as well*

Campbell
Kallgren

Your suggestions are very good and I agree with most of them. Unfortunately, unless we find a proven No. 1 goalie, it will be fruitless. Campbell will never lead us to a Cup, which should be our only goal now. A Cujo or Belfour type, nearing end of career but lots left in the tank. Gibson or someone like him? And, regardless, Briere has to be fired.

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

Issue is the Leafs have limited "after burners" to take this current roster into the next level, while simultaneously looking at a bunch of favorable contracts running out.

So unless Dubas somehow manages to clear cap, make a bunch of long bets that all pay off and restock the cupboard and have bluechip ELC's come save the day all in one summer, the team is going to tread water.

The good news is you don't need to be a 115 point team to go deep in the playoffs or to out skill everyone to win. The bad news is I'm not sure this young management group is especially good at identifying the right playoff veteran type personalities.

They are married to goal scoring talent. I get that it's a critical factor in the NHL...but if you lose a Willy and strengthen your bottom 6 AND play tighter defense...you can make up the loss. Look at high scoring Florida...who could have predicted that the highest scoring team would have trouble in a tight checking playoff atmosphere? pretty much everyone. The problem is we seem to keep thinking and hoping that being a high scoring team in the regular season automatically means the same thing in the playoffs. It doesn't...and although we have some experience showing we can easily get shutdown (montreal and CBJ) we never bother to have a plan B type of game in our repertoire. We need to be able to play ANY kind of game whenever its needed. We can't seem to do that because Dubas values high hockey IQ more than high hockey COMPETE. In the playoffs its more about the compete than IQ for the most part.

As for him identifying veterans...he needs to go away from the guy who never won one and is hungry (spezza, Marleau and Jumbo) and go for the guys who have won like Perry. He passed over Perry 2x in free agency....he was exactly the type we needed IMO.

 

[notDatsyuk]

I saw one goal count and one goal called back. That's how it was. Can't beat the refs.

The puck got past Vas and into the net twice. This much is true.

One was a goal, and the other wasn't. This is also true.

It could be reasonably argued that Tavares would not have even had the scoring chance if not for the (illegal) pick.